NEW DISCOVERIES
PROGRAMME
OCS Announces 2008 Winners of
'New Discoveries' Audition for Young Artists
February 20, 2008
More than 60 exciting young Canadian vocal artists lined up last week to participate in two days of thrilling ‘OCS New Discoveries’ auditions held in Montreal and Toronto. The biennial, juried auditions are an initiative developed in the early 90’s by the Ottawa Choral Society with the goal of ‘discovering’ young vocalists, thirty years of age and under, who are ready to launch their professional careers.
Ottawa – The Jury for the 2008 round of the OCS’s biennial ‘ New Discoveries Auditions for Young Artists’ faced a daunting challenge this week when they heard a roster of over 60 young Canadian artists in two days of auditions in Montreal and Toronto. Many of these young people have already made successful professional stage debuts and have won recognition in international competitions. After much deliberation, the Jury announced this year’s winners: Toronto soprano Laura Albino, Edmonton mezzo-soprano Aidan Ferguson and Toronto baritone Justin Welsh . Jury members were Matthew Larkin, Music Director of the Ottawa Choral Society and Organist and Director of Music at Christ Church Cathedral, Ottawa; Dr. Marika Kuzma, Director of the St. Lawrence Choir of Montreal, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Chorus and Professor of Music at the University of California at Berkeley; and Eric Friesen, well-known host of CBC’s national daily Radio Two music show, Studio Sparks.
Competing for engagements with the Ottawa Choral Society and the two prominent Montreal choral organizations Dr. Kuzma was representing, and a Grand Prize Showcase Recital, the young artists pulled out their showstoppers, performing works from Handel standards to Bach cantatas, to Mozart arias, to songs from the great romantic cycles by Brahms, Schumann and Richard Strauss and modern masters, Copland, Wolf and Britten. The jury was so delighted by the standard of technical and artistic achievement, one of the jurors was moved to say “As I was describing the experience to my colleagues … I realized how much I had been moved and challenged and enriched by the experience. There will be moments I will never forget, and that's always the true test of how one spends one's time.”
The Choral Society is proud to have been instrumental in encouraging the careers of such outstanding Canadian stars as soprano Shannon Mercer, baritone Peter McGillivray and tenor Michael Colvin, among many others, all former NDA winners. The winners of the 2006 round, sopranos Michèle Bogdanowicz and Pascale Beaudin and baritones Peter Barrett and Alexandre Sylvestre made their warmly-received debut performances during the OCS’s 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons and received a thrilling ovation from the large audience for their January 2007 Showcase Recital in Ottawa.
The Ottawa Choral Society congratulates the
2008 New Discoveries Audition Grand Prize Winners
Soprano Laura Albino is fast emerging as one of Canada’s finest young sopranos, and is in growing demand for both opera and concert repertoire. Her operatic repertoire includes the role of Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni conducted by Richard Eagrr with the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme in Aldeburgh, England; Mary Warren in Robert Ward’s The Crucible with the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv; and the role of Bridey in Queen of Puddings Music Theatre’s production of The Midnight Court at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Other recent operatic performances include Susanna in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Anne in Nicolai’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, the title roles in Handel's Semele as well as Holst’s Savitri and the part of Lauretta in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi. As a concert singer, Miss Albino recently made her debut with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in Bach’s St John Passion and made her third appearance with Toronto’s Aldeburgh Connection in the Bayfield Festival of Song. She has performed at the Toronto International Bach Festival under Helmuth Rilling for the past four years, and last July joined Maestro Rilling for performances of Bach Cantatas at the Oregon Bach Festival. Other recent concert appearances include performances of Mozart’s masses with the Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Paul Nadler, a performance of Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem under Raffi Armenian, Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Exultate Jubilate with Toronto’s Tallis Choir, Handel’s Messiah with the Handel Society of Dartmouth College under Rilling, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Toronto’s Amadeus Choir under Lydia Adams. Miss Albino has recently made her second appearance with Toronto’s Aradia Ensemble as the featured soloist in their Christmas concert, and looks forward to working with them again on an upcoming recording of Purcell works for the Naxos label. Miss Albino can also be heard on the Hänssler Classic label on a recording of Handel’s Saul with the Bach Collegium, Stuttgart.
Miss Albino recently completed a Masters Degree in Operatic Performance at the University of Toronto Opera School where the Canadian Opera Volunteers Committee named her the Distinguished Graduate of 2006. In August, Miss Albino will commence her studies as a member of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio.
Baritone Justin Welsh is currently a member of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio where he was part of the world premiere of Swoon in the role of Ari and will be Fiorello in their upcoming production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini. He has covered roles such as Guglielmo in Così Fan Tutte, Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro by W. A. Mozart, Rodrigue in Verdi’s Don Carlos and Wagner in the production of Faust by Gounod. He also performed the role of Papageno with the company from Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. He performed the role of Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro by Mozart in Sulmona, Italy, through the program C.O.S.I. He has participated in other opera programs such as Pacific Opera Victoria where he played Lapak from Janacek’s Cunning Little Vixen. He has also participated in the program Opera Nuova where he performed the roles of Reverend Blitch in Susannaand Sid in Albert Herring.
Justin graduated from the Columbia Master of Music program at the University of British Columbia. He has appeared in various operatic performances at this university such as Mozart’s Die Zauberflote as Papageno, Massenet’s Manon as Lescaut and Comte Des Grieux, and Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi in the title role. On a number of occasions, he has traveled to the Czech Republic and Germany to perform with the UBC Opera ensemble. Outside University, he was part of the Vancouver Opera chorus with the role of the messenger in their recent production of La Traviata and performed in the recorded oratorio, The Dream of Gerontius by Edgar.
Justin received an honorable mention in the National Regional finals for the 2004 Metropolitan Opera Competition in Seattle. He just recently received an encouragement award from the Louis and Cristina Quilico Awards competition. He is the first Canadian to receive first place in the 2006 Kurt Weill competition in Rochester, NY.
Young mezzo-soprano Aidan Ferguson is currently in her first year of her Master’s degree in Opera Performance at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University studying with Professor Joanne Kolomyjec and coaching with Professor Michael McMahon. Last year Aidan graduated her Bachelor of Music Degree from McGill with Outstanding Achievement in Voice and Distinction. She has been the recipient of numerous scholarships at McGill including the Laurie Slapcoff Award and Margaret Kalil Award, was a Schulich Scholar and this year received a Recruitment Excellence Fellowship.
Aidan has had the great privilege of taking part in master classes with Jane Eaglen, Nico Castel, Benjamin Butterfield, Carol Castel, Jon Fanning and Stuart Hamilton. Aidan’s operatic stage experience includes Zenobia in Radamisto by Handel, Popova in The Bear by Walton, Sorceress in Dido and Aeneas by Purcell and the Baroness in Samuel Barber’s Vanessa. This year she has sang the role of Mum Britten’s Albert Herring and Dorabella in Mozart’s Così fan tutte at McGill University. This summer Aidan will be returning to Opera NUOVA in her hometown of Edmonton, Alberta in the role of Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte.
